Diversity and functionality of soil prokaryotic communities in antarctic volcanic soils : insights from penguin-influenced environments

dc.contributor.authorSegura, Diego
dc.contributor.authorJordaan, Karen
dc.contributor.authorDiez, Beatriz
dc.contributor.authorTamayo-Leiva, Javier
dc.contributor.authorDoetterl, Sebastian
dc.contributor.authorWasner, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorCifuentes-Anticevic, Jeronimo
dc.contributor.authorCasanova-Katny, Angelica
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-08T09:25:41Z
dc.date.available2025-09-08T09:25:41Z
dc.date.issued2024-09
dc.description.abstractIn the nutrient-limited Antarctic terrestrial habitat, penguins transfer a significant amount of nutrients from the marine to the terrestrial ecosystem through their depositions (i.e., guano). This guano influences soil physicochemical properties, leading to the formation of ornithogenic soil rich in nutrients and organic matter. We hypothesize that soil prokaryotic communities will be strongly influenced by the contribution of nitrogenous nutrients from penguin rookeries, maintaining the influence over long distances. The objective was to establish how the soil prokaryotic diversity and community structure change with distance from a penguin colony, which provides large amounts of guano and nitrogenous compounds, and to study the effects of these nutrients on the functional role of these communities. Methods include volcanic soil sampling along a 1200 m transect from the penguin active rookery and the characterization of soil nutrient content and soil prokaryotic communities using 16S rRNA high-throughput amplicon sequencing. In contrast to our hypothesis, the results showed that the impact of guano from the penguin colony was restricted to the first 300 m. Probably because the penguin rookery was sheltered, strong wind and wind direction did not affect the transport of nutrients from the penguin rookery. Areas close to the penguin rookery were dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, while areas situated further away were dominated by Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, and Planctomycetes. Beta diversity analysis among the soil prokaryotic communities revealed a high degree of community heterogeneity, strongly associated with N compound characteristics (NH4, NO3, and %N), C, and pH. Inferences from N metabolism genes suggest a high potential of the microbial community for dissimilatory nitrate reduction genes (DNRA) to ammonium, assimilatory nitrate reduction (ANR), and denitrification. Although it is assumed that the nitrogenous compounds of the penguin colonies reach long distances and affect the prokaryotic community, this effect can vary with wind directions or the morphology of the site, reducing the impact of the guano over long distances, as our results indicate. On the other hand, functional predictions give some clues about the main actors in nitrogen cycling, through processes like dissimilatory nitrate reduction, assimilatory nitrate reduction, and denitrification.
dc.description.departmentBiochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology (BGM)
dc.description.librarianhj2025
dc.description.sdgSDG-15: Life on land
dc.description.sponsorshipSupported by: Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de Chile.
dc.description.urihttps://link.springer.com/journal/300
dc.identifier.citationSegura, D., Jordaan, K., Díez, B. et al. Diversity and functionality of soil prokaryotic communities in antarctic volcanic soils: insights from penguin-influenced environments. Polar Biology 47, 945–961 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03273-6.
dc.identifier.issn0722-4060 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1432-2056 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1007/s00300-024-03273-6
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/104245
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.rights© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. The original publication is available at : http://link.springer.comjournal/300.
dc.subjectPenguins rookeries
dc.subjectSoil nutrients
dc.subjectAntarctic
dc.subjectProcaryotic community
dc.subjectOrnithogenic soils
dc.subjectNitrogen cycle
dc.titleDiversity and functionality of soil prokaryotic communities in antarctic volcanic soils : insights from penguin-influenced environments
dc.typePostprint Article

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